"Needs":* 1 quiet Chassis
* (Maybe fans to go into chassis)
* Quiet PSU with the "oomph" to power the system.
* Quiet CPU FHS?
* Top-range NVIDIA or ATI GFX-card to be out soon. (Mention due to PSU needs).

<I'll tackle the bridge of how to get a high-end gfx card run quiet in a seperate matter, I suspect that'll be ... interesting too>

What I'm looking for / notes:
OK, to be blunt, I'm going on a bit of a spending spree, so money is not so much of an issue. Yes, this is intended to be a bit of a monster .

My irritation comes from the fact that it seems to be a herculean effort to find what I want. That is - in essence - a QUIET case, with good space inside. I'd like this monster to be a QUIET monster, if at all possible.

- I'm starting with 2 HD's, but I'll likely be needing more fairly soon.
- I want to have 120 mm fans (the sound of silence, eh?). Seems reasonable to me - I want to have a case which has got an air intake filter. Clean precious insides and all that .
- IDEALLY - have the chassis be able to swivel the mobo section out (but that's optional - can live without it).

- I want a meaty, but quiet PSU. I am thinking 450W minimum, having made a rough power budget of my needs/planned usage. Suggestions here are very welcome too. Needs are mostly down to the GFX-cards.

Yes, I am quite aware that this likely isn't going to come cheap, but I am mostly concerned with FINDING the right stuff, rather how to pay for it (for once) .

Problems:
=======
- NVIDIA's and ATI's next top of the range babies will require 2 additional molex connectors, supposedly from two seperate power-channels, where nothing else can be hanging off (except maybe a fan). Be that as it may, it's serious power suckage one way or another. Hence, I need a beefy PSU - preferrably with lots of Molex connectors (I count I'll need a minimum of .
- Finding a PSU which has 450 Watts (preferrably more) that doesn't try to emulate a jet trying to take off is not easy, as i've found
- Finding a case which has got 120 mm fans, AND offers the expansion space I want, AND comes without PSU, AND has an air filter (AND - ideally - can swivel out the mobo section tothe side) ... hard to find.

(hence my plea for your aid )

- Ideally, I'd like the case to be silvery/aluminium - but that's just icing on the cake/chassis - Anyone know if there's a way to cool a 3.4 GHz Prescott without making it appear as if I'm living near a runway? At the moment, I'm looking at the boxed Intel cooler, which came with the CPU, but would prefer a nifty quiet solution. Suggestions here also welcome .

I've looked at various cases, Lian-Li, Coolermaster, various smaller ones ... but either have not found the "right" model yet, or have just not seen the forest for the trees. Please help. Coolermaster seemed to have it "nearly" right, but their 120 mm chasis don't seem to have filters.

What I DON'T want/need:
- Modding the case.
- Glass panels in case.
I am quite happy with just a "solid box", really. Long as it ideally looks nifty, but is quiet. I'm not a modder junkie (yet), so it's not a concern .

Please help, if you would. My search is becoming considerably more painful than I'd planned on it being.

Congratulations on getting the hottest and hardest to cool quietly PC processor ever!

If you got loads on money you can get the Zalman TNN-500. But you might not like the looks of it. And you will need to get the version with the beefiest PSU.

Your next best bet would be to get a good case with 120mm fans and a great PSU. From the SPCR recommended PSU page the Enermax NoiseTaker 475 seems regarded as the best PSU you can get and the price for that one is only ~$99.

I suggest that you make a post in the cases and dampening forum and just ask question about the case.

Well I just posted this setup recently. It's similar to what you're looking at. The Prescott 2.8 I'm using has the same heat output as the 3.4....far as I know. You're not going to find a case with a really good filter. You'll need some mods to get one. A front 120mm fan usually is noisy or, not sufficiently filtered, or doesn't have good airflow. The bottom vent setup on this Black Knight solves these problems. It was a moderately difficult build.....but the thing is very quiet, and runs reasonably cool. Good luck with your setup.

3: Ahanix Black Knight (thanks for that - never heard of Ahanix until now - nice case).

CPU Coolerat the moment, this looks to be the favourite (assuming it fits the chassis):
Zalman CNPS7000A - seems a bit hefty, but assuming it'll fit the chassis, seems to be a good fit for what I need .

PSU:NoiseTaker 475 - that seems to be JUST what I was searching for. THANKS, silvervarg . MUCH appreciated.

Looks like my headaches are being cleared now quite well ... thanks a TON, chaps .

Zalman CNPS7000A - seems a bit hefty, but assuming it'll fit the chassis, seems to be a good fit for what I need .

No way that's enough cooler for that CPU. I run one on my 2.4C rigs and have to run at around 7V to cool even halfway decently. You'd probably have to run at 10-12V for your 3.4 which will be too noisy for most of us.

You'll need the most hard-core heatsink you can get for that hot CPU. Look to the Thermalright SP-94, but I don't know what fan you'd use on it. Some quiet 92mm, for sure, but I doubt that an L1A Panaflo would give you enough airflow at much under 9-10V, and that's too loud.

Look in the General Gallery for my P4 system writeups. The beginning of the post shows my 2.4C configuration, further back you can read about my 3.0C version of the same setup. Using "conventional" cooling/noise reduction methods I was barely able to make it quiet, even with a damped case. Your 3.4 will need even more cooling than my setup.

Good luck. You've got a great CPU and board, but it's going to be difficult to run it at the low noise levels that we like and keep it under 60-65°C under load.

Of course he's screwed, but the good news is-- "noise" is relative. I think anyone building this kind of system has more tolerance for noise than you do, Ralf.

That said, the 3.4 prescott is a profoundly bad choice for a quiet system. Can't you "make do" with a 3.2 northwood? It'll run a lot cooler-- like 20w cooler. I know, I know, it's TWO HUNDRED MEGAHERTZ SLOWER.

Wumpus he wrote that he already got the 3.4GHz CPU, so I guess it is a bit late to consider another CPU.

I agree with Ralf that he should pick the SP-94 rather than the Zalman 7000 cooler.
The main reason that people hear pick the Zalman 7000 cooler is because it is cheap and performs very well for the price you pay for it.
With a costly monster setup like this I guess spending a little more on the CPU cooler is money well used.

As far as case goes I guess Shathal found out just how expencive the TNN-500 is... A great case, but not really worth the money.
I have seen reviews that tell that it really does work as advertised.
You might get some problem with harddrive cooling, and the weight makes it less than perfect for a LAN party. Other than that it seems to be perfect.
Personally I think it looks kind of ugly...

I think a case with pre-installed dampening is a good choise to avoid doing some boring work yourself. The AcoustiCase C6607 seems like a good choise to me.

A difference of 5 Watts is negilgible. I do quite like their concept of a "straight" 2-fan setup. Should be the way of the future, I would say - makes for smoother airflow. www.scan.co.uk sell these babies, as I've found out. Nifty

Also, the seperate 12V rail from EnerMax is a *GOOD* idea. Coming from the server world, I like that one very much. Estimated/calculated power-budget would have been OK with either of the PSU's.

IMPORTANT:Despite having a clear preference for the EnerMax Noisetaker 475, I can't FIND any reseller in the UK (or Europe, for that matter) which sells the critter. If anyone has got ANY idea as to where I can get one, please let me know.

If all fails, looks like I might go with the Tagan after all, but would really prefer the EnerMax ...

<Murphy's law says that this is where I have pointed out to me that I can't see the forest for the trees...>

My original reason for looking at the Zalman CNPS7000A into consideration, was primarily laziness (not having to remove the stock retention mechanism). Cost wasn't so much the issue.

But I'm heeding Ralf's advice, as well as the suggestion from a lot of people on another forum I posted a similar request on. Looks like the Thermalright SP94 is really, REALLY popular.

Ralf (very conveniently) also proved that I shouldn't have problems installing the FHS in question onto my D875PBZ, since his 3 GHz system has that very same board. Makes life easier, knowing that I won't have to gamble . Thanks Ralf (though I'm sure this wasn't intentional on your part, just for moi ).

Will have to sort out fanage at some point. I see here the Panaflo is quite popular. I've also been recommended Papbst (sp?) - any suggestions here for 120 mm (case x2) and 92 mm (FHS) per chance?

I think that's it all covered for now? I'll keep you chaps posted on how it goes.

Due to lack of NVIDIA (whateverthey'llcallit), I'll obviously only be able to stick one of my current cards in it (nothing to write home about), but it'll give a good idea on how the system behaves.

I'd appreciate a hand with sourcing the Enermax PSU in the UK/Europe if one's offered . My (2 hour long) search has not had any luck

I've come across a few complaints about "clicking" problems from Papst, so I am somewhat dubious.

With the config that I am running - especially the Zalman fan-controller - any suggestions other than the Evercool aluminium fans? I'm happy to listen and am open to suggestion(s).

... things slowly taking shape.

Incidentally, I found (after e-mailing all of EnerMax's european partners) that the Noisetakers WILL indeed be available in Europe, around the beginning of may. May 5th was quoted to me as a delivery date.

In particular, http://www.nygl.com/ have been very responsive and friendly, so I can recommend them .

Ok no offense to everyone here but I just do not understand this at all. If he can not cool a processor quietly might as well go with a dell. See a Dell 8300 with a 3.4ghz P4 uses just one 92mm fan to my knowledge. So how the hell are they doing it and yet it can not be done on a home system.

I'm pretty confident that if Dell can do it, so can I. Esp. if I'm willing to spend more resources (moolah) on my stuff, and have the (quiet) experience of this forum here.

As it goes, my chassis just came in, as did the Thermaltake. Out of consideration to my flatmate, I'll not be assembling stuff until the weekend. However, little good that does to me, as I'm still missing one critical component.

The Power Supply.

That should come in May. Early May.

Darn. Want it NOW. A strange Lego-esque lust for building stuff is building up. Shall see how long it'll last. .

Ok no offense to everyone here but I just do not understand this at all. If he can not cool a processor quietly might as well go with a dell. See a Dell 8300 with a 3.4ghz P4 uses just one 92mm fan to my knowledge. So how the hell are they doing it and yet it can not be done on a home system.

Sigh....

See some of the earlier "Dell" threads for more in-depth discussion, but in short, Dell can't run their Intel processors any cooler, or any quieter than we can. Their "secret" is that they choose to run them fairly quiet but much warmer than most people here would ever think of doing, and they include no temp monitoring abilities on their hardware. They just test the heck out of them before they finalize a design.

People (including most here at SPCR) tend to shit a brick if their CPU goes over 50°C at load when they're actually quite safe being run nearly 20°C hotter than that. Dell's engineers are aware of that and design around it, but "home builders" are too obsessed with keeping their load temps below a certain artificially low threshold and end up tieing their own hands, noise-wise, because of the amount of cooling they feel they need to use. Dell doesn't have that problem.

And let's also mention that Dells, while some are quiet, really aren't that quiet when it comes to SPCR standards. They just tend to be quieter then the typical HP, Compaq etc home system. My "seat-of-the-pants" guess at the SPL of the newer Dell systems would be between 28-35dB+, depending on their actual configuration. This is based on having the opportunity to listen to dozens and dozens of them on a fairly regular basis.

Oh, and BTW a current high-end Dell doesn't just use "one 92mm fan". It uses one 92mm fan as a case fan/CPU fan, one 80mm fan in the PSU and (potentially) a fan on the graphics card. That's not all the different than many of the typical configurations that you see around here at SPCR.

Ralf I know what you mean by more than one 92mm. I guess I should of said one for the exhaust. I guess the gist of this thread that you could not cool a 3.4 ghz P4 Prescott on a Zalman 7000 at 12v with only one 120 mm exhaust fan. I was thinking how the hell does dell do it with one fan that is not even on the heatsink let alone most OEM manufactors using the stock heatsink. Sorry Ralf and I just really stressed for college debating if I should get a 8300 or build my own again. Maybe I should ask your advice if it is true what you have said that you listen to many Dells day in and day out.

Basically the Dell I am comparing to is a 4500 my gf bought last year which is a P4 2ghz with a GF MX that probably doesnt have a fan to my computer which is a amd xp 2200 tbred rev.A(sucks I know) on a vantec aeroflow with a enermax whisper 431 watt ps, a Visiontek Ti4600 and 3 coolermaster LED fans in a Antec AMG PLUSVIEW1000. So you see it is not quiet be SPCR standards.

Also the fact that my other friend bought a dell and was benchmarking at 10200 on a Ti4200, 512 ram, and a P4 2.4ghz 533fsb on 3dmark01 nothing overclocked compared to my 11850 on my system which I thought was pretty good performance wise for a dell. I expected him to be in the low 9000s not 10000. So can you help me out Ralf?

I've revised my opinion on modding the case possibly. I'll first see "how it goes", with my personal noise tolerance level. If I'm unhappy with it, I'll need to go & see what the loudest component is and execute sound from there.

#1 likely candidate?

The graphics card. Which will be either an NVIDIA 6800 Ultra or ATI's top-end model, though I'm currently leaning (preferance wise) towards NVIDIA.

Once the flatmate's out for a few weeks (this friday), I can start assembling bits to a "nearly ready" level, needing only the PSU (early may), and the graphics card (though I'll likely recruit one of my spare-ish ones until then, just to get the thing going & test it out).

...And let's also mention that Dells, while some are quiet, really aren't that quiet when it comes to SPCR standards. They just tend to be quieter then the typical HP, Compaq etc home system. My "seat-of-the-pants" guess at the SPL of the newer Dell systems would be between 28-35dB+, depending on their actual configuration. This is based on having the opportunity to listen to dozens and dozens of them on a fairly regular basis....

If I might chime in here Ralf, you are absolutely correct. We often have to service dead or malfunctioning Dell systems for some of our key corporate clients who have made the switch over to ARM hardware and then ask us to take care of the various other brands of systems they have already in house.

And a high-end Dell, loaded up with some go fast components like a fast graphics card, a P4 3.2 or 3.4 CPU can get very noisy when running at full load on normal day, let alone a warm day, - I would dare say in the 40dB+ range. Their published noise specs tend to reflect the most minimum configurations at the lowest CPU speeds for that particular model and at idle to near idle loads. Yes they are quieter than some of the other 'Big Brands' but not even close to what a DIY SPCR reader, or we at ARM Systems produce in a Pre-Built.

Once the flatmate's out for a few weeks (this friday), I can start assembling bits to a "nearly ready" level, needing only the PSU (early may), and the graphics card (though I'll likely recruit one of my spare-ish ones until then, just to get the thing going & test it out).

With an old graphics card in and few other components except what you need to run. E.g. 1 HDD, 1 optical drive etc you shouldn't have any problems running that box even with a rather poor 300W PSU. Just go ahead without the fancy PSU in the meanwhile. I think you will be able to find lots of small tweaks that you can do until you get the PSU.

I read in the VGA section that the "Geforce 6800 demands 288w Full load".
Time to make room for one extra PSU in that box...

...And let's also mention that Dells, while some are quiet, really aren't that quiet when it comes to SPCR standards. They just tend to be quieter then the typical HP, Compaq etc home system. My "seat-of-the-pants" guess at the SPL of the newer Dell systems would be between 28-35dB+, depending on their actual configuration. This is based on having the opportunity to listen to dozens and dozens of them on a fairly regular basis....

If I might chime in here Ralf, you are absolutely correct. We often have to service dead or malfunctioning Dell systems for some of our key corporate clients who have made the switch over to ARM hardware and then ask us to take care of the various other brands of systems they have already in house.

And a high-end Dell, loaded up with some go fast components like a fast graphics card, a P4 3.2 or 3.4 CPU can get very noisy when running at full load on normal day, let alone a warm day, - I would dare say in the 40dB+ range. Their published noise specs tend to reflect the most minimum configurations at the lowest CPU speeds for that particular model and at idle to near idle loads. Yes they are quieter than some of the other 'Big Brands' but not even close to what a DIY SPCR reader, or we at ARM Systems produce in a Pre-Built.

Stevo

Steve. I highly respect your opinion since you are a business man that probably sees the competion a lot more than the average person. Same with ralf too. I have been debating Dell, for their quietness when I am in a college dorm room. But Dells I find are slower and less responsive than the average computer with similar components from what I have seen. Now I know ARM are good computers and I am considering doing business with your company. That aside though would you be saying that a computer with say a zalman 7000 in a Antec sonata with the Truepower380 and the stock 120 mm running on the fan only connectors wtih the following components: P4 3.4ghz, Samsung P80 harddrive, and a ATI 9800 XT would be just as quiet as a Dell 8300 config with the same componets? Thanks

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